Yearly Archives: 2014

Berkeley conference illuminates problem of Islamophobia in today’s society

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Fifth Annual International Conference on Islamophobia StudiesFor more than seven hours Thursday, students and community members gathered at the UC Berkeley School of Law to discuss the presence of Islamophobia in culture and society.

At the Fifth Annual International Conference on Islamophobia Studies, founded and directed by UC Berkeley lecturer Hatem Bazian, attendees listened to panelists describe issues ranging from the discrimination against Muslims to the representation of Muslim women in the media.

Islamophobia is described by Bazian as “an irrational belief and hostile attitude directed toward Islam and Muslims that problematizes them as a subject matter.”

The annual conference is one aspect of the Islamophobia Research and Documentation Project, founded in response to the rise of Islamophobia in the United States and parts of Europe around the time President Barack Obama was elected, Bazian, who directs the project, said.

The project aims to establish the study of Islamophobia as an academic discipline by engaging scholars around the world with the conference. It also aims to expand the event to other countries, including France and Austria.

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Franklin Graham: Muslims who ‘want to practice Sharia law’ should ‘go back where you came from’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Franklin Graham“We should be afraid of sharia law” in America, and Muslims here who want to practice sharia should go back to where they came from, “to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Rev. Franklin Graham, head of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.

In a recent interview with the Charlotte Observer, Graham was asked, “Some say you demonize Islam, and Christians in this country have opposed building a mosque or are worried about Sharia law. Isn’t it –”

Graham, who oversees the international Christian aid group Samaritan’s Purse, said, “We should be afraid of Sharia law. We should be absolutely afraid of it. No question about it, because there’s no tolerance in Sharia law. It persecutes those that do not believe in Islam.”

“And I would say to Muslims in this country, if they want to practice Sharia law, go back to where you came from, to those nations that recognize sharia law,” said Graham. “But we have our own laws here.”

CNS News, 17 April 2014

Police find no evidence of criminality by Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Lutfur Rahman and John WareA police investigation into allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement by the mayor of a London council has found “no credible evidence of criminality”.

Lutfur Rahman, elected mayor of Tower Hamlets, east London, was accused by the BBC’s Panorama of more than doubling public funding to Bangladeshi and Somali groups from £1.5m to £3.6m in the face of recommendations from council officers. He denied the allegations, saying they had been motivated by racism and Islamophobia.

The communities secretary, Eric Pickles, sent inspectors into the borough to investigate Rahman’s activities, but Metropolitan police officers who reviewed the allegations found no evidence of fraud or other offences.

He will face no further action from police “at this stage”, but the force said it was appropriate for outside auditors from PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to continue their financial review of the council.

A Scotland Yard statement said: “On Friday 4 April the Metropolitan Police Service received three files of material from the Department for Communities and Local Government relating to the London borough of Tower Hamlets. These comprised material referred to the DCLG by a member of the public and by the BBC Panorama programme.

“The files have been reviewed by a team of officers over the past six days. In addition, officers have liaised with PricewaterhouseCoopers, who are conducting a full and wide-ranging audit of financial matters at the London borough of Tower Hamlets.

“There is no credible evidence of criminality within the files to provide reasonable grounds to suspect that fraud or any other offence has been committed at this stage. Therefore the MPS will not be investigating at this point in time and believe that it is appropriate for the material to be reviewed further by PwC and DCLG. We will continue to liaise with them should their audit uncover any evidence of criminality.”

PwC has been asked to report back to Pickles by 30 June. Tower Hamlets council, which says it has seen no evidence that its processes have been run inappropriately, welcomed the police statement.

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Police: Man made anti-Muslim remarks, spat on teenage girl on bus in Queens

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Queens assault police CCTV imagePolice on Tuesday were asking the public to help them find a suspect who allegedly spat on a 15-year-old girl and raised his fist to her while making anti-Muslim statements on a bus in Queens.

The incident happened around 9 a.m. Monday, April 7, on a Q88 Metropolitan Transportation Authority bus at the Horace Harding Expressway (Interstate 495) and Kissena Boulevard, police said.

The man walked up to the teenage girl and he made anti-Muslim statements, spat on her, and raised his fist as he threatened to punch her, police said.

Police have released surveillance photos of the suspect.

Anyone with information was asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS, log onto the Crime Stoppers website, or text tips to 274637 (CRIMES) and enter TIP577.

CBS New York, 15 April 2014

See also “No one helped a Muslim teen when a man spat on her, called her a terrorist: Reports”, Huffington Post, 10 April 2014

Update:  See “Man charged with harassing Muslim teen says he spat on her accidentally”, DNAinfo, 17 April 2014

EDL demonstrator fined for abusive behaviour

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An English Defence League demonstrator was fined at court after becoming drunk during a march in Peterborough city centre in March.

Andrew Robinson (46) travelled from his home in Birmingham to take part in the demonstration in Peterborough on Saturday, 29 March. He was one of 450 people who took part in the demonstration, with about 100 taking part in a counter demonstration held by the Peterborough Trades Union Council on the same day. Robinson was the only person arrested during either demonstration, and he appeared at Peterborough magistrates Court on Monday.

Jackie Carradice, prosecuting, said: “As the EDL march went past Bridge Street Police Station, Robinson was trying to break out of the barriers set by police. He was clearly under the influence of alcohol, and other members of the march were trying to move him to the edges, and were clearly annoyed by him. Police officers pulled him out of the crowd, and Robinson swore at the officers, and at a member of the public passing by. The officers needed to use force to detain him as he resisted arrest.”

Robinson, of Stratford Road, Birmingham, represented himself in court, and addressing District Judge Ken Sheraton, spoke only to apologise for his actions. He pleaded guilty to using threatening words or behaviour, and was fined £100 and ordered to pay costs of £85 and a victim surcharge of £20.

Peterborough Telegraph, 16 April 2014

New York police end Muslim surveillance program

Posted on by Bob Pitt

protesters against NYPD programmeA special New York Police Department unit that sparked controversy by tracking the daily lives of Muslims in an effort to detect terror threats has been disbanded, police officials said Tuesday.

NYPD spokesman Stephen Davis confirmed that detectives assigned to the unit had been transferred to other duties within the department’s Intelligence Division.

An ongoing review of the division by new Police Commissioner William Bratton found that the same information collected by the unit could be better collected through direct contact with community groups, officials said.

In a statement, Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, called the move “a critical step forward in easing tensions between the police and the communities they serve, so that our cops and our citizens can help one another go after the real bad guys.”

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Police chief condemns appointment of terror officer over ‘Islamic schools plot’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Chris SimsOne of Britain’s most senior police chiefs has attacked Michael Gove’s decision to appoint a counter-terrorism expert to investigate claims of a Islamist plot to take over schools in Birmingham.

Chris Sims [pictured], chief constable of West Midlands police, condemned as “desperately unfortunate” the appointment of Peter Clarke to look into allegations of Islamic fundamentalists infiltrating schools.

Peter Clarke, who served as head of the Metropolitan police’s counter-terrorism unit and led the investigation into the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, has been asked to examine claims made in an unsigned and unverified document, circulated in Birmingham and beyond, boasting of an plot named Operation Trojan Horse.

The alleged plotters claimed to have “taken over” secular state schools in Birmingham, ousting non-compliant heads and governors and running the schools on “strict Islamic principles”.

Sims told the Guardian that the letter that sparked the controversy could be a hoax and was not being treated as a criminal matter. He said Clarke’s appointment made it appear as though the saga was being officially handled as a counter-terrorism issue.

Asked whether he thought the appointment may damage community relations, Sims said: “It must be a concern. People could be made fearful if they think that is the way this issue is being perceived.”

He added: “Peter Clarke has many qualities but people will inevitably draw unwarranted conclusions from his former role as national co-ordinator for counter-terrorism. I am a strong supporter of open and inclusive education for all children in Birmingham and across the West Midlands and am committed to the process adopted by Birmingham city council with educational and social inclusion at its heart.”

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